Tuesday, 8 October 2013

Yesterday wasn't a banner day for hockey. We had two instances of bad, and, while completely unrelated aside from being tied into hockey, they still represented the concept of bad. Of course, today was the unveiling of the Team Canada jerseys by Hockey Canada, but that's old news thanks to the leaks on the internet. However, Nike published the images of the Czech uniforms yesterday. Later that evening, we saw probably one of the worst things that could happen to a goaltender, and I'm pretty sure that this will be on highlight reels as a "what not to do" for many years to come.

Let's start with the Czech Republic. We've seen the uniforms for Canada, the USA, and Russia, so it seems entirely appropriate to heap some more bad on the pile that is already forming for the Olympic Winter Games.

At first glance, I wasn't taken too aback of these uniforms, but then the little details began jumping out at me. And once again, they are hard to look past when one takes a closer look at these jerseys.

The faux lace-up collars are terrible. Like I simply cannot un-see them now when I look at any of the Olympic uniforms. They stand out so clearly in these photos, and I'm afraid of what they'll look like on high-definition televisions when the cameras are zoomed in. I really am starting to hate any and all laces - real or fake - on jerseys of all kinds.

I don't like the white uniform simply because it looks like a common shirt. Or, as one person in my workplace said, something you'd find at Old Navy or something. The dark uniform incorporates the flag, but both of these uniforms feel wrong. It's like Nike used these Olympic Games to throw everything traditional and hockey-esque out the window in favor of something off-the-wall and crazy. So, in saying this, the 2014 Sochi Olympic hockey competitions will now be called the "Turn Ahead The Clock", or TATC, Olympic Games. Clearly, Nike has little to no care about anything traditional - something that the Olympics have always maintained - and they are doing their damnedest to ensure that these Olympic Games look worse than in in history.

The second bad was entirely preventable, but still unfortunate. If you missed the highlights last night, Los Angeles Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick gave up one of the longest goals in his career, and his reaction afterwards pretty much said it all.

The worst part of that? The Kings trailed 2-1 with just 4:39 to play and were on the powerplay at the time. Jonathan Quick did not have a good evening.
There are a couple of updates for you. Tomorrow, HBIC will present something huge if people continue to respond positively to it. It's something that I asked you about on the survey that very few people actually completed, but those that did stated that they wanted this. If you want to have your say, get it in now. I can still make changes tomorrow, but I will push forward with this new addition to HBIC if the results remain the same. Fill out the survey, have your say, determine what appears on this blog. Easy-peasy, completely anonymous, and takes about three minutes maximum. Do it. You still have time to make a difference!

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